Warning: This page contains spoilers for the November 23, 2023, game of Jeopardy! — please do not scroll down if you wish to avoid being spoiled. Please note that the game airs as early as noon Eastern in some U.S. television markets.
Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category Science Etymology) for Thursday, November 23, 2023 (Season 40, Game 54):
First detected in the Sun’s atmosphere in 1868, it got its name from an old word for sun
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Amy Bekkerman, a copy editor from Durham, New Hampshire
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Ed Hashima, a community college history professor from Sacramento, California
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Jen Jazwinski, a youth services librarian from Algonquin, Illinois
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Happy Thanksgiving! As is always the case during the holidays, there will be a new episode of Jeopardy! today and tomorrow. Unfortunately, due to sports and other holiday programming, a lot of locations won’t be seeing the show at the usual time. Please check your local listings. Due to this, I should also note that today’s and tomorrow’s game results will be posted earlier than usual.
Meanwhile, on to today’s semifinal, we have Jen Jazwinski, Ed Hashima, and Amy Bekkerman. Nick Cascone yesterday showed that anything can happen if you get the hang of the timing of the signalling device at the right time—absolutely any of our three players today could take home a victory. Everything else being equal, I do think Ed has the best chance—in the quarterfinals, he had significantly more attempts than Jen or Amy did in their respective semifinals, but attempts are no guarantee of victory on the Alex Trebek Stage.
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: What is helium?
More information about Final Jeopardy:
(The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2023 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
After realizing in the mid-19th century that you could analyze light during an eclipse to determine the chemical composition of the sun (or other stars), astronomers eagerly awaited a solar eclipse scheduled for August 18, 1868 in India. Using a spectroscope, French astronomer Pierre Jules César Janssen realized that a yellow light, previously assumed to be sodium, did not match sodium’s wavelength—and a new element was discovered. Unfortunately for both Janssen and Sir Joseph Lockyer, who also sighted the element in the sun in England the same year, most scientists ridiculed their discovery until helium had been isolated on earth by Sir William Ramsey in 1895.
Helium’s main commercial use today is not as the lighter-than-air gas used to float items in air more easily (such as balloons), but in cryogenics, as even at absolute zero, liquid helium is unable to solidify at normal atmospheric pressure.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Thursday, November 23, 2023 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: The “A” List; Biblical Zoo; Whatchamacallit; They Come In Sevens; Put Me In; Coach)
In a round that saw zero Triple Stumpers, Jen got out to the early lead, but eight correct responses in a row from Ed meant that he held the lead after 15 clues. Amy picked up 9 correct after the break to claw back most of Ed’s advantage, but Ed still led after 30.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Ed 8 correct 0 incorrect
Jen 5 correct 1 incorrect
Amy 2 correct 0 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Amy is celebrating her youngest son’s third birthday today.
Ed has reconnected with Sam Buttrey; while out for a beer, Sam was recognized and Ed was not.
Jen had a brother who died in a car accident; she hopes her brother was watching when she won.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Ed 11 correct 0 incorrect
Amy 11 correct 0 incorrect
Jen 8 correct 2 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Ed $7,000
Amy $6,600
Jen $2,800
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Nordic Literature; Cartoon Theme Songs; Name That Rebellion; Modern Architectural Styles; ____ Of ____; Oxymorons)
In a round that had me on the edge of my seat, Ed got to the first Daily Double, but didn’t start hunting for the last one until the second half of the round. That allowed Jen to find it, and she very nearly doubled up and made for a very interesting conclusion to today’s festivities!
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Ed 26 correct 1 incorrect
Jen 15 correct 2 incorrect
Amy 16 correct 0 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 0 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Ed $23,000
Jen $20,200
Amy $14,600
Amy and Jen got Final Jeopardy correct, while Ed realized the correct response too late and couldn’t change it in time! That means, in a dramatic conclusion, that Jen is a finalist!
Tonight’s results:
Amy $14,600 + $14,500 = $29,100 (What is the helium?)
Jen $20,200 + $20,200 = $40,400 (What is Helium?) (Finalist)
Ed $23,000 – $18,000 = $5,000 (What is hydrogen? H Thanks for having me back!)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) BIBLICAL ZOO $1000 (clue #3)
Jen 200 +1000 (Ed 0 Amy 600)
2) NAME THAT REBELLION $800 (clue #10)
Ed 11000 +4000 (Jen 4800 Amy 9000)
3) ____ OF ____ $1200 (clue #23, $8000 left on board)
Jen 9600 +9000 (Ed 21400 Amy 12600)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 230
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Jen 3 5*
Ed
Amy 4
DJ! Round:
Jen 3 3 4 5 1 3*
Ed 4 2 1 1 2* 3† 4† 5† 1 3 4 3 4
Amy 5 2 5 2
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Jen 3.38
Amy 3.60
Ed 2.85
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 0 (0.00 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Jen $12,400 Coryat, 15 correct, 2 incorrect, 26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
Amy $14,600 Coryat, 16 correct, 0 incorrect, 22.81% in first on buzzer (13/57), 3/3 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Ed $19,800 Coryat, 26 correct, 1 incorrect, 45.61% in first on buzzer (26/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $46,800
Lach Trash: $3,600 (on 3 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $3,600
Lead Changes: 9
Times Tied: 5
Player Statistics:
Jen Jazwinski, career statistics:
100 correct, 12 incorrect
5/6 on rebound attempts (on 12 rebound opportunities)
32.63% in first on buzzer (93/285)
6/8 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $18,000)
5/5 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $14,800
Ed Hashima, career statistics:
139 correct, 23 incorrect
14/15 on rebound attempts (on 30 rebound opportunities)
38.30% in first on buzzer (131/342)
8/10 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $17,800)
1/6 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $18,667
Amy Bekkerman, career statistics:
93 correct, 15 incorrect
12/12 on rebound attempts (on 20 rebound opportunities)
28.77% in first on buzzer (82/285)
7/9 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $13,000)
3/5 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $13,560
Andy’s Thoughts:
- I’m left wondering that if Ed hadn’t been thinking of the shoutout at the bottom of his response, maybe he would have continued thinking and changed his response sooner? Oh, what might have been.
- Today’s box score: November 23, 2023 Box Score.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Ed $23,000 Jen $20,200 Amy $14,600)
Jen: Cover bet over Amy is $9,001. (Actual bet: $20,200)
Ed: Cover bet over Jen is $17,401. (Actual bet: $18,000)
Amy: Bet $3,400 or less and hope for the Triple Stumper.(Actual bet: $14,500)
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I knew this one. Slam-dunk! But, as usual, Andy’s write-up told me stuff I didn’t know.
Got it by the myth connection and knowing the general time frame of the discovery of helium.
On our local station (CBS 42 in Birmingham, AL) Jeopardy will air an hour earlier this afternoon because of football (2:30 pm instead of 3:30) and will not air at all Friday because of football.
🙄🙄
Helium was the gas that is used on airships nowadays. The Hindenburg heeded to have hydrogen previously but after that disaster. I guess helium works better as a gas
My local CBS Affiliate (WWNY 7News in Watertown, NY) won’t air it tonight or tomorrow because of football
🙄🙄
When the Final Jeopardy category was announced, I didn’t think I had much chance of knowing the correct response. But when the answer was shown,with the keywords “from an old word for the Sun,” I knew that it was helium, from Helios, god of the Sun from greek mythology. Always nice to know that in this instance, I was as smart as the players on stage.
Andy’s warning about premption; ABC7 Chicago, like most (if not all) ABC affiliates will have football during a lot of the broadcast day. In Chicago, Jeopardy is scheduled for early Saturday morning. Other cities, network affiliates, check your TV provider’s program guide.
For ABC and Fox, all affiliates are impacted.
For CBS, all affiliates airing the show at 7:00 pm Eastern or earlier are impacted, and those at 7:30 Eastern may have Jeopardy! joined in progress if their second football game runs long. (Boston is an exception to this, as the show will air on WSBK as it does every Friday during the NFL season.)
For NBC, all Eastern and Pacific time markets are impacted, as well as a handful of 6 PM local time airings in the Central and Mountain Time Zones.
That was a crazy, great game. Congrats to Jen. 2 out of 3 set for the 2 day final. Can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow.
Andy wrote, “I’m left wondering that if Ed hadn’t been thinking of the shoutout at the bottom of his response, maybe he would have continued thinking and changed his response sooner? Oh, what might have been.”
My sentiments exactly. I thought, “If only Ed hadn’t wasted time writing his shoutout, he might have had time to give the correct response and, thus, won the game.” An unforced error that cost him the game. 🙁
You both may well have been right, but there is also the chance that it was one of those circumstances when one’s brain only reveals the correct answer when one consciously quits trying to think of it. [Yes, “answer” is fitting here because even though one must respond in the form of a question, I believe most people use their brain to find it by framing it to themselves with the clue being a question.] If that was the case, then turning his mind to his shout-out could have been why the “correct answer” did come to him and he is just unlucky he’d planed such a long one.